St Patrick's Day 2014

St Patrick's Day 2014 was low-key in the Felt household - some green shirts and that's about it.  And of course, bribery with some M&Ms to get their picture taken:

Eric Turns 2!

Eric turned 2 years old last week!  He doesn't go to his 2 year check up for a few more weeks so I don't know his stats yet . . . though I think we've still got a skinny little man on our hands.  Eric is such a happy little guy and is talking up a storm.  He's mostly speaking in sentences and really can hold a conversation now.  He will tell us what he did in school during the day and who he played with. 

Eric is an easy going little boy who typically has a smile on his face.  He is starting to enter the terrible twos though I have noticed that I am not nearly as strict with discipline as I was with Evan at this age.  So I am going to have to crack down on that if we are going to survive the next 2 years.  Eric can generally get away with much more than his brother could at this age.  Where Evan used to feel bad about doing wrong and being in time-out, Eric just smiles at us.  And at times I can't help but smile back.  

Eric loves all things Thomas the Tank Engine right now.  He will play at the train table every single night before dinner.  Eric can name the names of all of the trains and enjoys watching Thomas on the television whenever we let him.  He also plays on the iPad and it's amazing the things he can do on there - he really likes the matching games and puzzles.  

Eric continues to be a little miniature version of Brian.  It constantly amazes me how much he looks like and acts like his father.  He loves music just like Brian and sings along to the songs Brian has introduced him to when they come on the radio.  He will also sing us songs that he has learned in school.  He is full of life, loves to give us hugs and kisses and just fits so well into our family.  I just can't believe he's 2 years old already!  

The Never Ending Winter

Let's just say this winter has been one of a kind . . . snowstorm after snowstorm.  The kids have been having a lot of fun staying home from school and getting to watch tv all day while Brian & I attempt to work from home.  I do have to say that it is really pretty outside.  Though I think everyone is ready for the warmer weather, which doesn't appear to be anywhere in sight.  But this weather has allowed us to try a few "firsts".  We took Evan skiing for the first time this winter and, after quite the fit in the lodge, he really did love it.  We've already taken him a second time again just to keep him familiar with it:

 And this is one of our many snow storms.  Thankfully Eric has taken more to wearing gloves:

And loves to try to "shovel" with these summer beach shovels:

Evan was enjoying the chance to get outside:

And to pose to show off how high the snow is piled:

We put the snowball maker that the boys got for Christmas to good use too.  Perfect snowballs and perfect aim:

And the first snowman we've ever built:

 Complete with broccoli for eyes, mini carrot for nose and blueberries for the mouth:

Hopefully spring will be here before we know it!

Boys and Animals

Expo #2 of the weekend was the Philadelphia Pet Expo.  Evan, my mom and I went to this two years ago when I was 7 months pregnant with Eric.  This year, Megan and Claire joined us.  The expo has all sorts of animals - people can bring their own pets.  Plus there were lots of animals to see up close - rabbits, birds, reptiles and a whole petting zoo.  You know these animal loving boys had a blast getting to feed some farm animals.  Here Evan is feeding a baby cow:

And Eric feeding the goats:

They really love their animals: 

And the llamas:

Fingers right in their mouths:

And Claire got into the action as well feeding this sheep:

We had quite the busy weekend while Brian enjoyed some quality time with the boys in Vegas.   We will be happy to have him home tonight!

Boys and Trains

Two great events took place at the greater Philadelphia expo center this past weekend.  On Saturday, I took the boys to see an enormous model train convention. I've never seen anything like it.  And neither had the boys who were completely mesmerized.  Having been to a model train store before and knowing that the model trains tend to be set on platforms higher than child-size, I had what might have been one of my greatest parenting ideas to-date.  I knew I wouldn't have the free hands to pick up both boys to see everything so, as silly as I thought it might look, I brought along a step stool.  See the first picture below:

It couldn't have worked out more perfectly.  Evan was content to carry it from place to place and I probably had 25+ parents comment to me about what a good idea it was.  Here they are checking out two trains passing right in front of them - real steam and all:

They had a real Thomas train that the kids could ride on.  Not too surprising but Evan wouldn't ride on it.  Eric, though, was happy to ride.  And even cried when the ride was over.

They had a children's train area with probably 6 train tables set up for playing:

And Thomas was all over this place - every size you could imagine.  You can see how that stepstool made all of the difference in what Evan was and was not able to see.  

I wish I could have taken more pictures but, with two little boys by myself, I was lucky to make it out of there with both of them at my side.  I didn't even attempt to bring my camera as I knew I wouldn't be able to manage it all.   I just wish this convention came to town every year, though it is more like every 5-10 years.  Evan is already asking if we can go back to the big train store.  He's got a LONG time to wait!

Like Father, Like Son

Brian is a 49ers fan and the boys received their own 49ers shirts for Christmas this year.  They got very excited to cheer on their dad's favorite team the last two weekends.  Let's hope they continue the winning streak - let's go 49ers!

Evan's First Year in Video

I have to admit we have had a video camera since before Evan was born.  We took some video when Evan was a baby but I never did anything with the video - it remained stuck in the video camera until a week ago when I was inspired by a friend to get my video OFF of my camera and onto my computer.  I then watched a few tutorials and learned how to use iMovie and spent my weekend putting together a video of Evan's first year or so.  It took me hours and hours but I was addicted and on a mission to get it finished.  It's 8 minutes long so it will take some time to watch it.  But I was happy with how it turned out.

However, for some reason, when I try to link to youtube directly through the blog, I don't see my video there.  And the video is too large to load directly.  So instead here is a link to the youtube video.

Evan's Early Days

Next project -  create a video of some kind for Eric despite having hardly any video footage.  By the time Eric was born, I had my good digital camera and took a lot more pictures but not as much video.  I'm regretting that right now, though I've made a promise to myself to take more video in the future because, in a few years, he'll look so much bigger than he looks today.  In the meantime, I can work with the limited video footage I have and the plethora of photographs to put together a montage.